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Forum:Post 080:YES, beware of Magnetix!
Dear readers- Here is some guidance provided on their website by Fat Brain Toys (a major US on-line distributor of Geomag brand toys): CAUTION: Magnets can cause serious health hazards. If more than one magnet is swallowed, magnets can attract to each other and cause intestinal perforation or blockage, which can be fatal. Keep all small magnet parts out of the hands of children who place objects in their mouth, especially children under the age of three. Click here for more information about magnetic toy safety issues. Then click here: :arrow: http://www.fatbraintoys.com/info/magnet_safety.cfm Kudos to Fat Brain for helping to inform parents about this health issue! And thank you Fat Brain for NOT selling the Magnetix brand. The competitor lower-priced brand Magnetix, especially the newer non-traditional designs "Extreme Combo" "Xtreme" and "Magnetix Micro" have been the cause of numerous injuries in the last year, in the US and Australia. Unfortunately the recall agreement reached with Rose Art (owned by Mega Bloks of Canada) was a "quasi-recall" and so far only a startlingly pitiful amount - 8,500 Magnetix toys have been returned for replacement, out of a total of 3.8 million subect to the US CPSC recall order in the US alone. Parents have reported that small magnets at the ends of the Magnetix tubes or at the edges of the 2-piece Magnetix panels have fallen out or are missing. Tests show that the tiny magnets are so powerful that when they are attracted to another magnet or the larger metal ball, they can be pulled out of their housing. All this happens without breaking the toy or stepping on it or anything like that, just with normal kid play. The Magnetix designs and materials (similar to some of the other brands poduced in the same region of China) seem to be at fault. In the log-like pieces, instead of one long magnet, there are two magnets in a pocket on each end. The lip only covers partly over the cylindrical magnet, so it can easily become dislodged. In the panels, there is a different defect. The Magnetix panels are composed of two flat pieces that sort of click together in the middle. Not one sealed piece! There are several small magnets of the same eraser-shape along the edges of each panel. There seems to be little, if any, adhesive or glue holding the two sides of the panel together. Of course the magnets can come out of these Rose Art toys. Read all about it at: :arrow: http://spaces.msn.com/magnetscankill If you have any Magnetix brand building sets in your home, seriously think about sending the back for a free replacement getting rid of them. The child who died was 21 months old (he wasn't allowed to play with the Magnetix, but magnets came out of his older brother's toy), and other injured kids have been age 3-9. Let's help stop similar tragedies. Pass it on. All indications are >> Geomag toys are much better designed and constructed than the Mega Bloks magnetic toys. But, keep in mind that precautions should be taken with any magnetic toy. Not just what you would think of at first (the choking hazard), but "multiple magnet ingestion". http://www2.rsna.org/pr/target.cfm?ID=203 Dr. Alan Oestreich's report (October, 2004)